Beowulf - Return to the Shieldlands; first thoughts.

[Garanhir]

Very first thought:
OK, It's a Xena show. Now I know what gear my brain needs to be in.

[tomcat51]

Very first thought:
OK, It's a Xena show. Now I know what gear my brain needs to be in.

Yup, appears to bear no resemblance to the actual time period the poems refer to. It looks like it may try to take itself too seriously and cash in on the GoT fanbase. I suspect it will fail miserably.

[Garanhir]

Hmm. I'm a bit disappointed. It frankly needed to drop the Beowulf references,  as there's nothing of Beowulf here.

Quasi-vikings in Fantasyland is what we got, which is fine, but such a creation needs to be confident in itself. Very quasi vikings indeed, lots of leather and bottle tops in evident.  Not a link of mail, even knitted-string mail would've been an improvement.

Most of the actors still seem uncomfortable in their roles, but we can hope they'll loosen up with practice; right now it seems a mix of unvarnished wood and overcooked ham.  The bad-boy prince in particular needs to carry some carpet with him if he's going to keep chewing it like that.

Set design was nice for a fantasy show, woeful for historical (or even hysterical) fiction.

There were some creature effects. They were competent but a little desultory in their execution.

So far I'm willing to keep giving it a shot but I sincerely hope it picks up.

[Roo]

Little disappointed...may watch the next episode in the hope it improves but if that is the cat from Red Dwarf as the shapeshifter it may just yet!

[Captain Blood]

Where's it on?
Thanks

[Garanhir]

It was on ITV1 at 7.

[Paleskin]

Trailer was enough for me I'm afraid!

[guitarheroandy]

I went in expecting a bit of ham-fisted fantasy fun for a Sunday evening and that's what I got. I thought it was absolutely fine for what it is. It was the first episode so it had to set up all the stereotyped characters and it did a fine job of that in that 'ham-fisted fun fantasy' kind of way.
I never take these things seriously any more and just enjoy or ignore them for what they are. You certainly aren't going to get Lord of the Rings quality out of ITV on a Sunday evening, IMHO...

[Brummie]

Watchable.

Although I stick to the 'Three episode' rule, and if it hasn't shown signs of improvement by then, well I may well give it a miss.

I liked the monsters.

Acting was a bit 'Hrmmm'.

Lack of mail and too much bright red was a bit 'meh'.

By now you would think that with numerous shows like 'Vikings' and 'GoT' the people who produce these things would have come to a fair understanding of what works. Admittedly this is more for kids and teenagers than the above mentioned shows so blood and nudity is a no go, but there is just no excuse for this persistence in substituting good quality costumes and hairstyles that wouldn't go amiss in a freezing north setting for modern fashion with a bit of leather attached (the prevalence of scarfs for instance) and a trim that makes you look like Tin Tin.

[Mr.J]

I actually quite liked it, however I wasn't expecting Beowulf, or Vikings, or Anglo-Saxons or any semblance of history. I was very much waiting for something in the same vain as ASoIaF which is what we received. I'd say it is to Anglo-Saxon history to what Game of Thrones is to Wars of the Roses.

The acting was ok, the story was ok, the effects and visuals were ok, nothing blew me away but at least it has a foundation to build upon.

Not sure about all the quiffs though. 

I much preferred it to BBC's Last Kingdom which I thought was pants.

[Garanhir]

After a rocky start, I'm rather getting into this.

[wolfie907]

I like the trolls they are definitely the stars of the show

[LeadAsbestos]

Watched a bit, started fast-forwarding, then went ahead and deleted all 3 episodes from my DVR. Poor, and I do like the sister from Outlander quite a bit, but she couldn't bail it out.

[Polkovnik]

I've been watching it but gave up after last week's episode. I've tried to give it a chance to improve but there is very little going for it and there are better things to spend my time watching.

[Mr.J]

I have to admit I saw potential but I've missed the last couple and haven't felt the urge to catch up. I might at some point but tbh I have better things to spend my time on.